Midday sun
by hamletisastud
Summary: Renesmee couldn't have a better life. All of her vampire relatives adore her, and Jacob, though he is a werewolf, is the best friend anyone could hope for. But Renesmee is getting older, and for better or worse, her feelings for Jacob are changing.
1. Friendship

Disclaimer: I, naturally, do not own twilight. this story is made up of my own ideas. if anyone would like to use this, please message me.

Renesmee

I woke up suddenly to what sounded like hammering of the floorboards and walls coming from Momma and Daddy's room. This did not come as a huge surprise to me. In fact, it happened just about every morning. I'd wake up, hear this loud noise for just a moment, and then it would stop abruptly as soon as I was fully conscious. I once asked Momma and Daddy what it was, but they just shrugged. At first, this only sparked my curiosity more, but I let it go. If neither of my over-protective parents made a big deal out of it, it wasn't anything to worry about.

Just a few seconds after this noise stopped, Momma and Daddy always came into my room to greet me. Momma would always run into my room with her huge, beautiful smile and scoop me up into a big, tight hug. I loved Momma's hugs not just because she smelled like freshly-picked wild flowers, but because of the security of her strong arms. When she hugged me, she refused to let go unless it was absolutely necessary.

It was usually Daddy that finally convinced her to loosen her grip a little. Then he and I would have one of our silent conversations. I was always used to the extra little quirks that our family had, like how Aunt Alice used to tell me to be careful five minutes before I wanted to go out and play. Ever since my first memory, Daddy would just look at me and I could tell him what I wanted without touching him.

So on one particular summer morning after I woke up, and all of the banging had stopped, I counted the few seconds until Momma would run in. 3… 2… 1…

"Nessie!" she cried, and in the same moment I was in her arms.

"Momma!" I replied happily, squeezing her neck.

Daddy just stayed at the threshold, leaning casually against the door, with his usual crooked smile on his face. Everyone said I looked a lot like him, especially when I smiled. I hoped this was true, because Daddy was by far the most handsome of our family.

As I looked back at him, he saw in my mind that I was a little bit thirsty.

"What say we get a little breakfast, Nessie?" he grinned at me.

I looked at Momma, who also smiled at me. "Ladies first!" we yelled together, as I jumped out of her arms and toward the door.

Every summer morning, after a little hunting, all three of us would run to the big white house on the river to see the rest of the family. The people who greeted us at the door were different every day. Sometimes, it was Grampa Carlisle and Gramma Esme. (I used to wonder why Carlisle looked so much younger than Grampa Charlie, but it's just another one of our quirks.) Sometimes Aunt Rosalie and Uncle Emmett would be at the door first. I liked it when they greeted us, because Rose would always hug me and stroke my hair gently, and Emmett always smiles his humungous smile, and used to throw me in the air so high he would make Daddy mad. Sometimes it was Alice and Jasper would greet us first. They definitely are the weirdest pair, but I can't help but feel happy and comfortable around them (another quirk, one could say).

But arriving at the big house isn't the best part of the day. The best part I have to wait until the afternoon for. That's when Jacob comes.

Next to Momma, Jacob is my favorite person in the world. He has the friendliest, brightest smile I've ever seen. He always cares for me and understands me in a way that nobody else does. Like when we go hunting, he isn't overly careful with me like everyone else is. He knows that I can fight the stronger animals like everyone else. Everybody says he smells funny, but I think he smells like the woods, and that's my favorite smell. He is the best friend I could ever have.

I have to wait until the afternoon for him to come over though, because he has responsibilities with his pack at La Push. I understand that he's the leader, and carries more weight than anyone else in the pack, but it's still really annoying having to wait for him. Especially in the past few months, I've been anticipating his arrival a lot more. I don't know why, but when it's almost time for him to come, I kind of get butterflies in my stomach, and once I asked Rose three separate times how I looked before he came. And thin when he actually comes, I blush so much that my cheeks are an even deeper red than they usually are, and my usual flutter of a heartbeat becomes a loud staccato drumming. And to make the situation even more embarrassing, Jasper always looks at me and laughs as if he knows a good joke I'm missing. Geez.

2:32

I sat on the couch, bouncing up and down slightly. I told myself over and over again to stop looking at the clock, but as usual, my face turned as if responding to a magnetic pull.

2:34

Ugh. I continued my frantic bouncing. I started humming the song that Daddy wrote for me. It usually calmed me down, but I didn't get through the first few phrases without my face snapping unwillingly sideways again.

2:35

Ugh!

"Do you want me to pull your hair up for you, Nessie?" Rose helpfully suggested with a kind smile.

Jake did say that my hair did look pretty when it was up. "Yes, please." I responded gratefully. She approached me fluidly and began running her fingers through my curls. I tried my very best not to bounce as she pulled part of my hair to the back of my head, but without thinking about it my eyes snapped back to the clock again.

2:37. Would this torture never end?!

"Nessie, hold still," Rose told me, remaining patient.

Shoot. I touched her and told her I was sorry.

"What's the big deal, anyway?" Emmett wondered loudly from the couch. "How come you're so eager for Mr. Smelly to come over every day?"

"Emmett!" Esme scolded him. But I noticed Jasper give Emmett a meaningful look. Emmett's eyebrows rose as he looked back at me, and then he tried unsuccessfully to hide a snicker.

"What? What's he laughing about?" I asked a now chuckling Jasper.

"Don't worry about it," Rose tried to console me, "they're just trying to tease you..."

However, I turned to Daddy and asked him. His consoling smile was much more convincing. I continued trying not to bounce and looked much more carefully at the clock.

2:39. Blah. I tried to watch what was on TV, but Emmett was flipping through channels too fast. I finally settled in on the huge chess game Momma and Jasper were playing. It was a great big game with a bunch of regular chess sets put together. I had trouble remembering all of the rules, but Momma took to it quickly. She even beat Emmett once. I was just about to congratulate her on taking out Jasper's last rook when I smelled a very unique smell. It was a smell that I knew very intimately. Not considering if Rose had stopped playing with my hair or not, I leaped out of my seat and sped toward the front yard.

He was in the front yard just as I got out the front door. His big, bright smile lit up his friendly eyes. His shaggy hair was messy all over his brown face. When I got close enough I jumped into his big, muscular arms and he gave me a big squeeze.

"Hi Nessie!" he shouted when he hugged me.

"Jake!" I tried to yell, but he had already squeezed all of the air out of me. When I was finally released, we ran hand in hand back to the house.

"Smelly!" Jacob, Emmett and Jasper greeted each other loudly, as per usual custom. Everybody else gave him a "hello, Jacob". Even Rose said hi, even though they never really got along.

"So what's happenin'?" Jacob asked conversationally.

"I'm kickin' butt," Momma said as she took away another knight.

"It's only because Alice doesn't cheat for Jasper anymore," Daddy chuckled. Everyone else laughed too, because they knew it was true. Alice decided to change the subject.

"Hey, Nessie," she said, "why don't you show Jacob that new outfit we got for you?"

I beamed. Jacob always told me how pretty I was when I modeled my clothes for him. I ran up the stairs into what used to be Daddy's room. It now held mostly old keepsakes from Momma and Daddy, but we often piled out shopping things in there when I didn't feel like taking it all the way home. I found the packages from the last time Alice and I went shopping quickly and put everything on. I went into the bathroom to make sure I looked perfect before I went back downstairs.

"Well?" I asked as I spun around, modeling the whole ensemble.

"Aw, Nessie," Jacob glowed at me, "you look so pretty."

"Yeah, Smelly, isn't she something to look at?" Emmett chimed in as he walked toward me, "Especially that… blush!" he laughed as he poked my burning cheek.

"Stop pestering my child," Daddy threatened, although everyone knew he really didn't mind.

Jacob saved me from more blushing by diverting my attention. "What say we go out for something to eat tonight so I can show you off?" he smiled at me.

"Now wait a second, Smelly," Emmett said in a mock stern voice, "Nessie cant' date until she's, uh, older than she is now."

"Um, yeah, especially since we go out to eat all the time," Jacob replied.

"Oh, yeah," Emmett finished lamely.

"I'll have to go home before then," Jacob added. I looked at him questioningly. "I need to get dressed in more than some old sweats, or else I'd look like a hobo next to you." He winked at me.

"You always look like a hobo next to her," Rose struck. First snap of the day, and first blood belonged to Rose.

"Hey, Blondie, what do a bowling ball and a blonde have in common?" Jacob asked. "Chances are they'll both end up in the gutter." He finished. That was a new one; we all had to laugh with him.

"In the meantime, wanna play some chess?" Momma smiled at Jacob. Her current game wasn't over yet, but they had been at a standstill for the past little while.

"Uh-oh," Jacob said, not sounding the least bit concerned, "I don't think I've played chess with my buddy Bella in a while. This should be fun."

"Lots of fun," Momma smiled.


	2. Outing

"I'll just run home and get my motorcycle and then I'll be back, ok?" Jacob asked me. I touched his cheek and told him to hurry. He smiled at me, kissed me on the cheek, and ran away. Although I was excited for tonight, I still always felt a little sad whenever I watched him leave. Luckily, Alice knew how to cheer me up.

"Do you want to put a little bit of make-up on?" she smiled at me. I beamed at her and raced her to her bathroom upstairs.

"Now, what will it be for tonight?" she said as she surveyed the make-up cupboard she had just for me. I touched her face and showed her an image of me that I wanted.

"Eye-shadow and Lip-gloss?" she asked me questioningly. I asked her why not. "Well," she continued, "isn't that a bit much? It's just a night out with Jacob." I told her I wanted to look good for him. "Nessie, he's going to think you're pretty no matter what." I sighed and compromised. Alice lined my eyes in dark brown eyeliner and spread gloss over my full lips. I looked in the mirror and we both smiled widely at my reflection. It was hard to tell who enjoyed dressing me up more: Alice, Rosalie, or me.

"Well, what else should we do? You're already dressed and accessorized," she indicated to Momma's locket and Jacob's bracelet that I always wore, "do you like the way Rosalie did your hair?" After I told her I liked it, she sighed. "Well, there's nothing left to do but wait I guess." I sighed too; I hated waiting. But then I smiled. I asked her what bag I should bring, and she smiled too. We both skipped back to her closet and looked over her collection of about a million purses. We brooded for a few minutes on the kind of bag this occasion called for, and decided on a simple little one that matched my outfit. By the time I was headed downstairs again, I heard the roar of a motorcycle outside. I ran for the door but Daddy caught up with me and blocked my way.

"Where do you think you're going?" he teased.

"Oh, sorry Daddy," I jumped up and gave him a hug.

"Uh-huh, sure, pay me no mind, I'm just your mother," I heard from behind me. I turned and smiled at her as she walked up to join the group hug. As I hugged my parents, I told them I loved them. They each kissed me on each cheek and let me down. Without sparing a second, I ran out the door only to run into Jacob. I started to fall slightly backward, but he caught me easily.

"Happy to see me, are you?" he smiled, looking only too thrilled to see me.

"Hey, watch where you're standing, ya big lug, you almost hurt my child." Momma teased him.

"Yeah, it was all on purpose too," Jacob teased back. Momma landed him a playful punch. I watched the punch create a bruise on Jacob's arm, and then slowly fade away.

"Ready to go?" Jacob asked. I nodded, waved to everyone in the house, and headed for the motorcycle. I loved riding on the motorcycle with Jacob. I was totally addicted to the speed and the thrill of it. Of course, I would prefer to ride on Jacob's back in his other form, but that wasn't possible very often.

Usually on our nights out, Jacob and I would go to Olympia. I liked the big cities and it wasn't as far as Seattle.

"What are you in the mood for tonight?" Jacob yelled back at me once we were within city limits.

"Anything that involves meat!" I yelled back.

We pulled into a restaurant that was low key enough for our casual attire. Even though Jacob had changed into a button down shirt and dark slacks, we still weren't that dressy.

People usually looked at us curiously when we went out together. Considering Jacob looked like he was in his early twenties and I looked about eleven or twelve (although I would be four in a few short months). I couldn't really blame them. They usually bought it when we said we were step-siblings, but it was mostly best to try not to say anything. Luckily enough the restaurant we went to had a hostess nice enough not to say anything.

"The wait will be about 15 minutes," she told us. Jacob put his name on the wait list and we sat down.

Jacob and I spent a long time devising games to play while waiting for a table. One of my favorite games to play wasn't really a game, it was more like eavesdropping. Since Jacob and I had such keen hearing, we liked to listen to the strange conversations taking place across the large room. We learned funny things about people that way, like how they had the tendency to say things to their dates that were obviously contrary to what their body language was saying. We also liked to listen to the gossip the waitresses swapped; females were so cruel sometimes. Every once in a while, we even caught people talking about Jacob and me.

"Hey, Nessie," Jacob whispered to me, "listen to the people over there." He pointed to a table about 50 feet away. As per rules of the game, I didn't look very long at the people he pointed to. I only allowed myself a short glance before I listened to them.

"… wonder what their relation is?" I heard a woman say.

"I guarantee they're not related," a man answered her.

"Then why would they be out together?" the woman retorted. "A girl who can't even be a teenager and a big guy who has to be in his early twenties going out together? Unless they're related, the two of them being out together is just creepy."

I touched Jacob's face lightly and asked why she thought that would be creepy.

"They don't believe that someone that's as old as I look could be just friends with you. I can't really explain why, they just think it would be weird. Some people just have demented minds like that." He told me. I told him I was confused. He thought hard for a while before he answered.

"I guess I could explain, but it's a really long story and I'm sure I would butcher it," he smiled at me. "Ask your mom, she would make more sense of it than I would."

Momma? Would she know? But then again, she knew just about everything. I accepted his answer well enough. Not long after that a waitress called Jacob's name and led us to a table.

I sat down at the table still thinking about what the lady said. Why couldn't I be friends with Jake? Who wouldn't want to be friends with him? I looked into his deep eyes, pondering this. Those eyes looked warmly back at me, and my heart started throbbing a little.

"You're so pretty, Nessie," he said tenderly. I looked him over when he said that. Even in a nice button down shirt one could see how incredibly muscular he was. Looking at his muscles like that made me feel strange; kind of embarrassed.

"And you look very handsome, Jake." I replied with a blush. It looked almost as if he blushed too. A moment later, he looked up.

"Those people are still talking about us," he told me with a chuckle. I hadn't realized they were still within earshot. I listened for them now.

"… did you see the way he looked at that poor girl?" the woman said. "Ugh, so creepy."

I looked at Jacob, horrified.

"Why would she say you're creepy?" I asked him.

"Apparently, being nice is out of societal norm," by the way he said that, I could tell he was annoyed. Luckily, the waitress came then.

"Anything to start you off?" she smiled. I noticed she gave an especially welcoming smile to Jacob, which made me feel funny. Almost… mad. Weird.

"Ya, two waters and a tray of buffalo wings."

I smiles widely. I was glad we had the same taste.

"Wanna bet how many I can eat tonight?" Jacob grinned at me. We loved making competition of everything.

"Let's see," I thought, "125 last time in addition to a three course meal, right? It's gotta be at least 150 this time."

"I bet I can stuff 160!" he grinned hugely.

"It's a good thing I'm rich. You're such a pig."

"Hey!" he laughed back, "I always pay my share." This was true. He got his share of the Cullen fortune just like the rest of us did. "You've been eating a lot more lately," he added.

"I'm a growing girl," I responded.

"Yeah," he agreed, "how much did you grow in the last year? About a foot?"

"I believe it was about 8 inches."

"You're right. Better eat like a pig so you can grow big and strong like me."

"But you're huge."

"Ok, like your mom then."

"That's better."

"But you didn't used to like food that much. What happened?"

I smiled "I just imagine that everything I eat is a great big animal I just took out. And that it's way bigger than yours."

"Let it go, Nessie, mine are always bigger."

"Whatever, Jake."

"Hey, remember when we tracked down that mountain lion?" he smiled at me.

The memory brought a huge grin to my face. Jacob wasn't over-careful with me when it came to hunting like everyone else was. He knew I could hunt fiercer animals just like anyone.

"I'm glad you don't think about that around Daddy. If he found out he'd kill you."

"I know," he beamed.

"Do you take pleasure in rebelling behind my parents' backs?"

"Maybe a little. Don't you?"

I smiled slyly. "A little."

We recalled the story of that hunting trip together. It was just the two of us in the forest near Canada. I smelled something much more appealing than the usual deer and elk we hunted at home. I told Jacob I wanted to hunt it. Since he was in his other form at the time, he couldn't directly respond to me. Instead, he took me to where I could actually see the lion. He looked bac k at me to see the excitement in my eyes as I looked at it. He grinned at me slyly as he took me forward towards our prey.

"Oh," Jacob said, bringing me back to the present, "it looks like out first round of wings are here." And sure enough, there was the waitress with a big tray of buffalo wings.

"Are you ready to order?" she asked, smiling particularly at Jacob. That same weird feeling that I was almost mad at a perfect stranger came back again. I tried my best to ignore it. After we ordered our usual steak dinners, Jacob watched the waitress as she walked away, apparently deep in thought.

"What?" I asked him. Watching him look after her like that made me feel weird too.

"Listen," he answered simply. So I listened closely. I could hear our waitress talking to another waitress not far away.

"… total fox!" I heard her say. Then I heard the other waitress walking hastily up our aisle. Sure enough, a moment later, she passed where we were sitting and took a not-so-sneaky look at Jacob out of the corner of her eye. A short while later, I heard her talking to our waitress again.

"Holy crap you were right. Possibly the most amazing bod I've ever seen!" What brats. I scowled in their general direction. Jacob smiled at me.

"I'm glad you're not that shallow."

I smiled back. "Thanks, but that's not the important thing. The important thing is to see how many buffalo wings you can eat." He rubbed his hands together and set to work. I was glad of one thing at least; when it came to food eating contests, we were both easily distracted.

We left the restaurant about an hour later, completely stuffed. Jacob was only able to stuff around 140 buffalo wings before he went a slight shade of green. The funny thing was, about five minutes later, he was perfectly fine.

As we got close to the door, I saw the people who were talking about us earlier exiting as well. The woman saw us coming and tried unsuccessfully not to stare. Wanting to teach that rude lady a lesson, I walked within earshot of her and turned to Jacob. Then I put my arms around his huge middle and hugged him tightly.

"I love you, Jacob," I said so she could hear. He bent over and kissed the top of my head.

"I love you too, Nessie," he said. Curiosity seemed to get the best of that lady, because she actually walked up to us and asked what out relation was. I spoke before Jacob could use the step-sibling story.

"He's my best friend," I snapped before I pulled him by the hand out the door.

"Nessie," Jacob said in a soothing tone when we were outside, "don't listen to what people like her say."

"But she was so rude!" I fumed. "She was judging you and she doesn't even know you!"

"What other people say doesn't matter. All that matters is what you think."

I sighed and got onto the motorcycle. He was right, I shouldn't overreact. Jacob was the best friend in the entire world. He cared about me and I cared about him. He was my Jacob, that's all that mattered.


	3. Talk

"Smelly!" yelled Emmett from the front porch. This wasn't the usual custom, it sparked my curiosity.

"Smelly, I need you!" Emmett continued, "Jasper says th-" but he stopped talking as he noticed that I was listening in. Much to my annoyance, he finished his question in Jacob's ear. To whatever he asked, Jacob raised his eyebrows and chuckled.

"How should I know?" he laughed even harder.

"Oh that's right, you innocent people wouldn't know. How boring," Emmett pouted as we walked back to the house. Then he turned to me, "I can't wait until you're old enough to understand."

"Understand what?" I asked. I hated not knowing things I had the feeling were important.

"That's enough out of you," Daddy said before Emmett could say anything else. "Be nice to my child." Before I could protest and ask what was up, I let out a yawn.

"Time to get you home?" Daddy smiled at me.

"Nessie, don't fall asleep yet!" I heard Alice say from inside. "We have to show you something!"

"What? What?" I ran inside. Alice flew down the stairs toward me. She took my hand and steered me back up the stairs going top speed.

"Edward, you come too!" she yelled over her shoulder.

"About time," Daddy said.

Daddy wanted to see too? This made me even more curious. Alice ran me to the entrance of her room.

"Okay, Bella. One, two, three…ta-da!"

Momma stepped from behind the door in a gorgeous dress that Alice obviously just finished. It was made with a deep blue, flowing fabric. It hung just off her shoulders, sloping down into a deep neckline. The bottom opened in the front at her knee, and draped toward the full length back. The cloth hung around her elegant body, making her look very tall and thin. Momma had to be the most beautiful woman in the world.

"Momma," was all I could gasp.

"My thoughts exactly," Daddy whispered behind me. I looked around to see his expression. He had the look on his face that he often gave Momma. He was looking at her as if she was an angel come to bring him to celestial glory. I was used to this look, especially since they gave it to each other several times a day. I was also used to what was coming up next. Daddy stepped forward and wrapped his arms around Momma and leaned down to kiss her.

"Should we leave them alone?" Alice whispered to me. But I stayed where I was, looking at them express their love for each other. I never really gave their kissing much thought, especially since everyone else kissed all the time. It was nice. I smiled. Eventually, they broke apart.

"I'm going to change and then we'll go, ok Nessie?" Momma said to me.

"Ok," was all I replied.

I woke up suddenly in the middle of the night. Aw man, it was nature calling again. I looked at the clock. It was almost 3 am. I was mostly out of bed when I smelled something. It was kind of like blood only… gross. Not appealing at all. Oh well, I had more pressing matters. I got up and ran to the bathroom. As I was doing my business, the smell only seemed to get worse. At first I didn't care. Then I looked down…

"MOMMA!" I screamed louder that I ever had in my life. I was so scared I was shaking all over. What was going on? Did I have some kind of strange illness?

Momma was in the bathroom in half a second, my shaking hands touched her face. I asked her what was wrong with me, and what this was.

"It's ok, Nessie," Momma replied, "let's get you cleaned up and then I'll explain everything."

This gooey blood, or whatever it was, was all over my underwear and even my pajama bottoms. It had even dried partly down my legs. Momma cleaned me up with an alcohol wipe and then ran to get me some fresh underwear and pajamas. When she came back, she carried something with her as well. She got a small, long object out of a wrapper.

"This is going to feel strange, but it will stop the blood from getting everywhere again. Lift your leg up a little bit."

If she wasn't my mother, I would have freaked out. She stuck this little thing up a hole I hardly knew existed. She was right about one thing at least; it certainly felt strange. It gave me a weird sensation that made me want to spontaneously burst into giggles. After she was done, I finally got changed into clean underwear and pajamas. Then she led me by the hand back to my room and sat me down on my bed.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you about this before. I just wasn't sure when the right time was. I mean, you grew up so fast." She told me. Did I sense a hint of regret in her voice? "It's a bit of a long story, but it has to do with how we make children."

That was random. I touched her face and asked her to tell me. Momma took a deep breath before she began…

"Oh," was all I responded.

"Do you understand now? Does all that make sense?" she asked me. I told her I understood.

"Do you think you can get back to sleep?"

I looked at the clock. It was 3:30. I was too tired to talk, so I just touched her face and told her I was tired.

"Ok," Momma leaned over and gave me a hug. "Sleep well." I didn't really respond, so she just left the room.

I lay down on my pillow, running the last half-hour over in my head. It all seemed so out of the blue. The most interesting part was when Momma tried to tell me in a calm matter how good it felt. I could see the smile trying to escape her lips when she told me that doing the deed was so…breathtaking that sometimes people went kind of crazy during the process. She told me it was similar to drinking your favorite type of blood- you kind of forget everything else around you.

And then I remembered: loud banging coming from Momma and Daddy's room. It took all of my effort to keep the hysterical giggle that burst out of my lips quiet.

I had to take a moment to convince myself that the previous evening had actually happened. I saw the world from an entirely different perspective. Momma and Daddy were nice enough to pretend not to notice the dazed look I had on my face all morning. It was still on my face as we entered the big house. I looked around at everyone's faces. These strange facts that I had only discovered last night they knew all along. So odd…

"What's the matter with you?" Emmett asked.

"I gave her the talk last night," Momma said.

Emmett stared at me for a moment, and then burst out laughing.

"Aw, baby Nessie is a big girl now! She got the TALK!" he guffawed.

"She took the news better than you did, Emmett," Daddy said.

"I never heard that story," Momma smiled. I noticed Emmett didn't look as embarrassed as I thought he would.

"He received the talk shortly after being changed," Daddy began.

Oh boy, this was going to be good, I could tell. I sat down to get more comfortable. Momma and Daddy sat down too.

"Emmett got over his newborn phase in about a year, just like most of us. Since he wasn't focused on blood so much, he was focusing on Rosalie a lot more." I saw Emmett's eyebrows jump at Rosalie as Daddy said this, and Rosalie smiled back slyly. Daddy continued, "So Carlisle decided perhaps he could tell him how he could express his love for her more fully."

"Probably the worst mistake I ever made," Carlisle laughed.

"What happened?" I asked.

"They wouldn't stop!" Daddy laughed. "It was really gross!"

"Even I could agree it was gross," Esme added. Everyone laughed, especially since Esme usually never admitted stuff like that.

"So how did Nessie take the news?" Rosalie asked.

"Rather like I did when I first heard it. Calmly, like a normal person." Daddy replied.

"Really now?" she asked skeptically, "That's probably a lie."

"What? That I took it well, or that she did?"

"Both."

"She giggled a little bit," Momma said, "but other than that, she was fine." I tried to hide my smile as I remembered what I thought was so funny.

"What was so funny, Nessie?" Rosalie asked.

"Nothing, really," I didn't want to embarrass anyone.

"It wasn't anything that funny," Daddy added.

"Ooh, why so defensive, Edward?" Rose smiled at him. "C'mon, Nessie, I'm dying here."

"No, I don't want to," I said with a blush. But of course that only made everyone more curious. Even Jasper chimed in—uh oh.

"You can tell us, Nessie. They owe you anyway for not telling you this stuff sooner," he said staring deep into my eyes, using his especially smooth, silky voice.

"Well," I smiled, unable to resist Jasper's manipulation, "I was glad to find out what all of that noise coming from their room was."

As comprehension dawned on everyone's face, the entire room burst into laughter.

"And here I was thinking you two were so 'in control'!" Emmett said through his guffaws, "Who would have thought you were a couple of wild people!"

"At least we don't destroy dozens of houses," Daddy pointed out.

"That's just a symbol of quality," Emmett responded.

"Or overcompensation," Jasper chuckled.

"Hey! I'm not the one who needs compensation!"

This conversation was getting weird. Luckily, Daddy saved me.

"Would you guys give it a rest? Nessie only got the basics last night, her head has exploded enough."

"Oh, yeah, you're still technically innocent, huh? Sorry, Nessie," Emmett apologized.

"I'm sorry too, Nessie," Jasper added. "I couldn't help it, the curiosity in the atmosphere was just too much."

"Ooh, I have a good change of subject!" Alice chimed in. "Nessie, I had an awesome idea for a new dress. Come with me!"

I jumped up and ran up the stairs with Alice, happy that she had something less weird to talk about.

I saw Jacob coming from the windows in Alice's room. Even though I had been completely absorbed in creating the new dress Alice designed for me, I abandoned the project immediately when I saw him coming.

"Yeah, yeah, I know where I fit in the grand scheme of things. I'm just so darn special," I heard Alice mumble. But I ignored her, she wasn't that mad anyway. I wanted Jacob. I jumped off the bottom steps right into his arms, where he gave me my favorite big-bear-hug.

"Hey, Nessie!" he said, still squeezing me.

"Hi, Jake," I said, refusing to let go. After a moment, he chuckled.

"How long do you think we could stay like this?" he asked.

"Forever," I said.

"Ok." He started walking toward the living room to where everyone else was, carrying me the whole way.

All of the guys were watching some game on TV. Well, laughing at it was more like it. Being a part of the supernatural brings about a level of cockiness with it. They were criticizing a guy who supposedly ran like a politician when Jacob came in, still holding me. They started to yell out "Smelly" as usual, but stopped when they saw us.

"Smelly, what are you doing with my niece?" Jasper asked.

"Ya, crazy Smelly, put her down," Emmett said.

"No," I shook my head to their surprise. So naturally, Jacob didn't let me down. He just sat down on the couch with me on his lap. Emmett and Jasper chuckled.

"Interesting position you've got goin' there," Emmett laughed. Daddy chucked something at his head so fast I didn't see what it was.

"Oh, I guess you didn't tell her about that, huh?"

"What happened?" Jacob asked, confused.

"They gave her the talk last night," Carlisle explained.

"Ah," Jacob said with more understanding, "how did you take it?" he asked me.

"Fine," I said, "I guess it made sense."

"I remember when I first got the talk," Jacob smiled. "I freaked out at first because I thought it was gross."

"Man things will be a lot more fun when you two aren't innocent anymore," Emmett grinned at me and Jacob before Daddy launched himself at him. But I didn't pay much attention to wrestle time, I was thinking about what Emmett was trying to imply. Me… and Jacob…? He… and…me…? Nevermind, I don't think I'll think about things like that.


	4. Visitors

_One year later_

It was summertime again. After being apart for almost a year, the family was finally coming back to the big house.

I looked at myself in the mirror. I had grown quite a bit in the past year. I was just about Momma's size. Daddy mentioned that I might not grow quite as much next year. I smiled at myself when I thought of what Alice will want to buy for me when she saw me. Not only was an entire new wardrobe on the list, but custom made bras too. I was almost Momma's size in that aspect too.

There was certainly one consequence about growing so much that I was happy about. These days, when I went out with Jacob, people didn't look at him like he was a creep. They actually believed that we were out together without being related.

"Nessie, are you almost ready?" Momma asked me through the bathroom door. I looked at the clock. Oops. I'd taken longer than I thought. Probably because I was in a daze thinking about Jacob again…

"Yes," I replied.

"Well hurry up then, your father is almost out the door." Momma said. I smiled. He was definitely looking for a little race. Excellent, I loved a bit of competition. I dashed out of the bathroom and out the front door in a matter of seconds. Daddy was already about 100 yards away. He looked back at me with a mischievous smile and disappeared. I shot after him, even though I doubted I would have a chance against him. A few moments later, however, I had a glimmer of hope. In the distance, I saw a huge, reddish-brown wolf galloping toward us. I beamed as I ran toward him and jumped on his back. He shot toward Daddy, almost taking the lead before we jumped over the river and into the meadow.

"Cheater!" Daddy shouted at both me and Jacob. I jumped off his back so he could go back in the trees, change, and wrestle Daddy properly. Momma showed up then, shaking her head.

"Unbelievable," she said, laughing. I laughed too; it was hilarious when Daddy and Jacob wrestled like this.

"DOGGIE PILE!" I heard shouted from behind me. I turned around to see Emmett, Jasper, and Carlisle running from the house. All at once, they jumped on Jacob and Daddy. Alice, Rosalie, and Esme ran out of the house too, but the paid little heed to the foolish doggie pile. They went straight toward me and Momma. For a moment we were both enveloped in hugs and squeals and greetings of all sorts. The guys finally finished their wrestle fest and came to hug us too.

"Hey, Jasper," Emmett yelled while still holding me, "catch!" he hurled me through the air and Jasper caught me. Ignoring my protests, Jasper threw me high into the air and back to Emmett. Both of them were roaring in laughter as I squealed.

"Fear not, fair maiden, I shall rescue you!" Jacob yelled. While I was in mid-air, he dashed over and caught me. I laughed out loud and hugged him.

"Hey," Emmett yelled, "that _is _cheating!"

"Whoa," Jasper said, looking at Jacob and me hugging, "are you like a twosome now?"

Jacob and I looked at each other. I didn't really know if I wanted him as a boyfriend or not. It did seem like we were a couple sometimes, but I liked thinking of us as friends a little better. We both smiled back at Jasper and just shrugged.

"Weird," Jasper shook his head, "Cute, but weird."

"Well c'mon, weirdo's!" Esme yelled to us, "Let's go inside!"

We spent the entire morning catching up with what we had all done in the past year, rolling in laughter at all of the crazy stories everyone had. We were still trying to calm down from Emmett's last story when Jacob's phone suddenly buzzed.

"Hey, Seth, what's up?" he answered. As Seth spoke on the other line, Jacob's face became gradually more worried. When he spoke again, he almost looked scared.

"Ok, Seth," he finally replied, "I'll tell them. Yes, both you and Leah keep watch until I get back. Yeah, I'll leave right away. Bye." He hung up his phone and looked back at us.

"Seth said he smelled vampires passing through La Push. Neither he nor Leah recognized the scent. He's worried that they may have caught their scent too."

"That is certainly a problem," Carlisle said. "It is very likely that they would want to be rid of any wolves that crossed their path. You'll want to leave immediately."

My eyes popped. Some wild vampires wanted to fight Jacob's pack? What if Jacob got hurt? How could I let him go and get himself hurt? Jacob looked at me warily, as if he didn't want to leave either.

"Nessie, can I talk to you for a minute, please?" Momma pulled me up from where I was sitting and walked me upstairs. Once she walked me into Daddy's room and shut the door, however, I started crying. I tried to keep quiet enough so that no one downstairs could hear, but that was impossible. Momma brought me into a tight hug.

"Shh, Nessie, it's okay. It's okay," she tried to soothe me. But I was too scared. I was scared of what some wild vampires would do to Jacob. I knew very well how horrible strange vampires could be. My family, of course, was very civil, and I remembered all of the kind covens I had met before. The trouble was, I also remembered those terrifying vampires that wanted to fight my family. The Volturi. I still remembered, even though I was only about 6 months old, how quickly they disposed of Irina. I remembered how passionately Caius asked for our deaths. I remembered Jane trying so hard to hurt us. I knew then and I knew now that evil vampires could kill us all if they had the mind to. Thinking about all of this didn't help my crying.

"Nessie, Nessie," Momma said, "you need to calm down."

I told her I was scared for Jacob. I didn't want to let him go and get hurt or… or… I started crying harder.

"Nessie, it'll be ok. He just needs to go and help Seth and Leah keep watch."

I asked what would happen If the vampires attacked.

"Nessie," she told me, "if he didn't go to help, that may be a problem. But if he leaves now, all of this can be over and done with."

I told her she couldn't know that.

"Baby, wild vampires hardly ever travel in big groups. There'll be three at most. Things will be evenly matched."

I was still skeptical. I asked if Daddy could go with them… and Carlisle… and Jasper and Emmett. She sighed, but nodded and took me back to the other room. Daddy obviously heard what I wanted, because he indicated to the other guys to come with him.

"Yes," Emmett smiled. But I didn't pay much attention to him. My worried eyes were only for my Jacob. He walked over to me and hugged me.

"It'll be over soon, Nessie," he whispered in my ear. "I'll come back to you as soon as I can. I promise," Somehow, when he said that to me, it gave me hope. I was able to let go of him after that. Maybe it was just because I wanted to hear it from him. I was still a little anxious, but I decided that I wanted him to take care of his pack. Besides, Daddy and the guys would keep things safe. I waved to them as they ran out the door.

"Geez," Alice said behind me, "You certainly inherited the worry gene, didn't you?" I turned around and scowled at her.

"Oh, hush, Alice," Rosalie said, "this just means that it's time for a chick flick," she smiled at me.


	5. Sunshine

After hours upon hours of girlie time, I started to wonder what was happening in La Push. I asked Momma if we should call Daddy.

"They're probably still keeping watch, honey," she said. I sighed heavily. I always hated waiting, but I _really_ hated it when something important was happening. When Momma didn't say anything else, I pulled my phone out and called him myself.

"Hi, beautiful girl," he answered. That was a good sign.

"Hi, Daddy, how is everything?"

"Fine, nothing yet. We're going to stay late, just to make sure, though."

I sighed again.

"I know. This'll all be over soon, baby. I love you."

"I love you too, Daddy."

He hung up the phone.

"I told you there was nothing to worry about," Momma said.

"Oh stuff it, Bella. You would do the exact same thing in her situation," Alice laughed at her.

"So would you," Momma replied. Alice just shrugged.

We continued into our fluffy girl time until late into the night. When I was getting a bit tired, Momma excused us and took me home. As I was getting ready for bed, I heard Momma mumbling.

"Geez, I wish they'd hurry up."

I stuck my head out of my bedroom door.

"Are you worried, Momma?"

She spun around. Apparently, she didn't expect me to hear her.

"Oh no, honey. I'm just annoyed. I hate it when they guys stay out half the night like this."

I rolled my eyes. She was at least a little bit worried, I could tell. I lay down in my bed and tried to relax. Actual sleep probably wasn't going come until I saw Daddy come home safe, but I could at least rest in the mean time. It was just after 1 am when I suddenly heard Daddy's frantic voice outside.

"Bella, Bella!" his whispered anxiously in the night.

"What is it, Edward? Did you see them?"

"We saw them," he responded. My heart stopped. I had to strain to hear them explain.

"They had come back to attack Jacob's pack, but they were thrown off when they saw us with them. I saw in the leader's mind that he wanted to go and get reinforcements."

"Did they?"

"I followed them just close enough to be able to see what he was thinking. Apparently he knows some packs in the South that would be more than willing to help."

"What?!" Momma exclaimed, though she was careful to keep her voice to a whisper, "some of those deranged armies Jasper used to be a part of?! But what about Sam? Where is he?"

"His entire pack has apparently had some business in Canada for the past few days. Jacob hasn't been able to get a hold of any of them, since they're almost always in wolf form."

"Oh, Edward, what are we going to do? We could be attacked any day!"

"We'll have to be ready until then."

"What about Renesmee?"

In case Daddy tried to see if I was asleep, I closed my eyes and concentrated on the blackness behind my eyelids. He was silent for a while before he spoke again.

"Let's go to the main house to discuss everything- no, she'll be fine for a couple of hours. Come on, Bella.

Momma obviously hesitated for a few moments, but I eventually heard them run away. Once their footsteps faded into the night, I let my tears go out full force. I bawled and cried and choked on my tears and bawled some more. Not only were two or three vampires after Jacob, but possibly even an army was after my entire family. I couldn't stop thinking that my Jacob was going to get badly hurt. I didn't think it was possible, but I started crying even harder. Oh I wished he could be with me now. I needed him. I needed to feel his big bear hug at least one more time before the vampires came. I was crying so hard I barely heard the tap on my window. My head snapped up and there he was outside. I gasped with relief as I practically threw the window open to let him in. he climbed in quickly and threw his arms around me. I hugged him right back and continued sobbing in his shoulder. He held me tightly and let my tears soak his skin.

"Don't worry, Nessie, I'll fight them," his husky voice assured me. "We'll all fight them so they won't bother us anymore."

I forced myself to say my worst fear out loud, "They could kill you."

"They _won't_ kill me," he said, his voice determined.

"You can't promise that," I said sadly. He pulled back so he could look into my eyes.

"I don't know if I'll get hurt or not, but I _will_ come back for you. I'll fight these stinking vampires away from us and I'll come back to you."

"How could you know that?"

He placed both of his hands on either side of my face. His eyes were more sincere than I had ever seen them.

"I can't leave you, Renesmee, I can't. I won't. I refuse to ever, ever leave you.

Suddenly, something in his eyes changed. I saw a light turn on that I had never seen before. The change in his face took my breath away. A strange emotion erupted inside of my chest. A strong, passionate, burning feeling spread through every portion of my body.

I realized in this moment that I loved him. I was in love with Jacob Black.

"Oh, Jacob."

Without thinking about what I was doing, but totally letting my instincts take over, I leaned in to kiss him. He wrapped his arms tightly around me so that our bodies were exactly in line with one another. I could feel our hearts pounding an intense rhythm together. His was pounding deep and strong like a timpani drum, and mine was as fast and frantic as a bird's wings. It was such a fascinating rhythm. Our lips moved in perfect synchronization with one another, as if they were made to fit exactly together. I parted my lips just slightly so I could taste his lips. Oh, it was as if I could have the taste of the most appealing perfume on my tongue. It was smoky, but rich. Yet it was also soft and sweet. A smoldering heat seemed to create itself around us. It was like Jacob really was my sunshine, giving me warmth, light and brilliance. The heat made it difficult to breathe. I reluctantly broke away for a little air. But he wasn't about to stop. He kissed all along my jaw, playing at the hollow beneath my ear. My fingers braided themselves in his hair as his mouth moved down to the skin at my throat.

"Stay with me tonight," I breathed in the darkness. "Stay with me."

He lay my head gently down on my pillow.

"I'll stay with you," he whispered in my ear. I suddenly realized how worn out I was. Oh, but I didn't want to stop kissing him. He smiled, and gave me a soft, sweet kiss.

"Sleep, Nessie. I'll stay with you, just sleep."

I smiled. "I love you, Jacob."

"I love you, Renesmee." A few minutes later, sooner than I thought possible, I drifted off to sleep.


	6. Waiting

I woke up to the bright sunshine coming through my window. There was a note on my pillow addressed to me. I opened it. It was from Jacob.

_Nessie, I had to leave before your parents came back and killed me. Ha ha, just kidding. Sort of. But I did have to go back and help keep watch._

_I'll be back soon. I love you, Jacob._

A huge smile spread across my face. This love had come so fast, but it felt so natural, as if I had felt this way all along.

Suddenly, Momma opened my door. I stashed the note before the door was completely open. Momma looked at me as if she was about to speak, but stopped. She sniffed the air suspiciously, and then looked at me. Oh, crap, I thought, she must be able to smell his scent.

"Did we have a visitor last night, Renesmee?" she asked sternly.

Before I was able to answer, Daddy came in behind her, his face somewhat shocked. He obviously saw in my mind what I failed to hide from him.

I wasn't sure whether to feel embarrassed or defiant. Sure, I was blushing up a storm because I was caught, but what did I do wrong? The entire family had spontaneous make-out sessions all the time, why couldn't I?

Daddy sighed, "Nessie, now _really_ isn't the time to be acting like this."

I was defiant now. "Like what?"

"All of his focus now needs to be on protecting his pack. He doesn't have time for any distractions."

When Daddy's words sunk in, I suddenly felt horribly guilty. I was distracting him? I didn't mean to keep him from protecting us. I didn't think I was doing anything wrong. I guess I wasn't thinking at all. What if I distracted him while the vampires attacked? I hung my head. I shouldn't be so selfish.

Then Daddy did something I didn't expect. He sat beside me and gave me a hug.

"My little girl," he whispered softly, "I'm sorry. You aren't to blame. I'm the one who's being selfish."

I looked at him, confused.

"It's just painful, thinking that soon you'll be with him, and I've only had you for a few short years. Soon, he'll be the one that will make you happy, not me. Though he is the only one I could ever trust with you, and I know he'll give you the world, he's taking my princess away. I wish I could keep my little princess with me forever, but I can't. It makes me so sad."

Momma's face softened as she considered this. It made me feel a little sad too. In a way, I also wished that they could hold onto me forever. I held out my arms for Momma. She came and joined us on the bed so she could hug me. But then she made a face.

"Ugh," she whined, "You smell."

Daddy and I burst out laughing, but she just pouted and stomped out of the room.

"C'mon," Daddy said, "get dressed so we can to go back to the house and discuss a couple of things." I was dressed and out of the house within two minutes.

"What kinds of things do we need to discuss, Daddy?" I asked him when we ran out the door.

"Well, for one, we need to figure out what we're going to do with _you_ should we be attacked."

I sighed. Of _course_ no one was going to let me fight. I'll just sit around moping… and waiting. That was certainly not something I was looking forward to. I ran to the big house with a pout on my face. Daddy chuckled.

"You look like your mother when you're annoyed," he said. Despite myself, I smiled a little.

Emmett, Rosalie, Jasper and Alice were waiting in the living room when we arrived. I didn't see Carlisle or Esme anywhere. Before I could ask where they were, Emmett gave me a quizzical look.

"Nessie, why do you smell like dog sh*t?"

My face turned red. Momma shot him an evil look.

"Aw," Jasper jumped in, "why so embarrassed, Nessie? What did you do?"

"Jasper, stop that!" Daddy scolded. But that wasn't going to stop Emmett from whipping out his phone. He hit a number and had the phone to his ear in a fraction of a second.

"Hey, Smelly, quick question. Did you make out with Nessie last night?"

Jacob made a short response, to which Emmett burst out in guffaws.

"HA! You did, didn't you! Ok, go back to your business. Bye, Smelly." He turned to me. "Baby Nessie is _really_ a big girl, now! She's having smooching sessions!" he picked me up and spun me around.

"Emmett, put me down!" I yelled. He obeyed, but wouldn't stop laughing. Jasper was laughing too. Rosalie and Alice, however, looked too surprised to say anything.

"Stop acting like a doofus," Momma snapped. "We have things we need to discuss."

"Ah, yes. We need to make sure Nessie doesn't try to run away with Smelly while we're fighting." He chortled. Momma rolled her eyes.

"Please be serious," Daddy pleaded. With some effort, Emmett stopped laughing.

"Nessie," Daddy asked me, "do you think you would be able to wait at home by yourself?"

I bit my lip. "Honestly, I don't think so."

"Well," Daddy sighed, "who should stay with you? I would suggest Jasper, but we'll need him with us."

"Maybe I should stay with her," Momma suggested. My spirit lifted a little. Momma would be a big comfort to me while I waited.

"Are you sure?" Daddy asked, though he looked a little relieved. "Maybe I could stay with her."

"Edward," Momma said, "you've been cheated out of the last two fights, you don't have to go for three."

I looked at Momma questioningly. "Two fights?"

"Well," Daddy explained, "there was the last one…" I nodded. I remembered that one.

"And then there was one we fought while your mother was still human."

"Why didn't you fight in that one, Daddy?" Momma looked embarrassed.

Daddy smiled, "Like mother, like daughter. Let's just leave it at that." The other four chuckled at Momma, whose face was in a full scowl.

"Fine, fine, I'll stay with her. Next item of business!" Momma snapped through incessant snickers.

"Right," Daddy said, trying to wipe away his smile, "Nessie, do you want to do something else while we practice fighting outside, or can you watch?"

I raised my eyebrow at him. "Daddy, seriously, I can watch."

"Just wondering," he defended himself. "Alright, let's go."

After practicing for a couple of hours, Jasper got a call from Carlisle saying it was his and Alice's turn to keep watch. Ah, so that's where they were; at La Push.

Other than that minor change, my entire family was busy fighting until well into the afternoon. Watching started to become dull nearly to the point of pain. Plus, everyone was preoccupied with being anxious and anticipating the worst for the upcoming battle. If boredom didn't kill me, the tension certainly would. The only person who wasn't totally subdued was Emmett. He took a break from fighting and came to sit next to me.

"Geez, Nessie, I haven't seen such a bored face since Seth tried watching an Austen film."

I giggled. "I can only watch this type of thing for so long."

"Is that a girl thing, or is it just because you aren't participating?"

"Both."

"Sorry, Nessie. I would let you practice with us, but your parents would murder me." Then Emmett chuckled. "I wonder what they'll do to Smelly if he comes over today. I bet your mom will give him a bruise or two."

My brow puckered. "Why? Because of last-"

"Exactly." He smiled, "twenty bucks?"

I smiled and shook his hand, "You're on."

Emmett chuckled darkly. He probably would have continued doing so for several minutes if his phone didn't buzz.

"Ah, crap, that'll be Jasper. I gotta go." He gave me a kiss on the forehead. "Bye, beautiful."

I sighed. The only person that was in a good mood was leaving.

In a weird way, Emmett reminded me a little of Jacob. For one thing, they were both huge and gave big bear hugs (although Emmett's was much colder). Even their deep voices were similar. But the main similarity was in their bright personalities. Their huge grins and dorky jokes always made my day.

I wished Jacob would come and cheer me up. I felt so empty without him. But he probably couldn't. Blah. I got up to get something to eat from the kitchen, even though I wasn't hungry enough for dinner yet. I came back outside and sat down with an apple, resolved to spend the rest of the day with nothing to think about except a fight I hoped would never come. I had only sat down for a few minutes, however, when Jasper and Alice came back. Alice went straight over to Momma and Daddy, but Jasper came to sit next to me. There was a sly smile on his face.

"Smelly was certainly cheerful today," he said.

"That's nice," I said, failing to come up with a more clever answer.

"I thought you'd like to know he's coming over soon," he smiled.

"Oh," I replied simply, although he must have felt the happiness and relief burst out of me like an explosion. He walked away laughing at my deep red blush. I sat embarrassed for a while until I could hear Jacob coming. I got up to run to him, but then stopped, afraid of the stares and snickers that may follow. Jacob came in the field slowly, as if he was thinking the same thing. Before either of us did anything, however, Momma stalked up to Jacob, a scowl on her face. Jacob's face was torn between worry and amusement. Momma stopped in front of him, muttering something unintelligible under her breath. Then she threw a couple of random punches at his shoulder and chest, and then stomped inside. (I hoped Emmett didn't find out about this). Jacob watched the bruises on his arm fade away, and then smiled at me.

"Well, I guess that wasn't so bad."

Even though I mad at Momma for hitting him, I smiled. Even thought I should have been worried about Jacob fighting soon and didn't want him to lose his focus, I jumped into his arms. I had time to be scared later. For now, I just wanted to savor the joy that flowed through me. I looked around at the faces of my other family members looking at me, wondering what their reactions would be if I kissed Jacob in front of them. I briefly put my lips on his, and then turned back to them. Daddy stiffened a little, Carlisle smiled, Esme glowed, Jasper's eyebrow raised, and Alice's jaw dropped. The result overall was rather entertaining.

After a couple of hours, I was able to let Jacob go back to La Push. I didn't want him getting too distracted with me. I wanted him to be well prepared. So, with a little sadness, I hugged and (because I decided it was my new favorite activity) kissed him goodbye.

Daddy got a call from Emmett not long after, telling him it was his and Momma's turn to help keep watch. Daddy turned to me after he hung up.

"Nessie, can you take yourself home?"

I bit my lip. It wasn't a question of whether or not I was _able_ to take myself home, but rather if I _could_. I couldn't explain why, but if I went home by myself, I'd probably have a nervous breakdown and wouldn't get a wink of sleep. I needed my family to be with me to calm me down.

"Jasper, maybe you should go with her," Daddy suggested. That made me feel a little better. He would certainly help me get to sleep, if anything. Jasper smiled and nodded. Momma and Daddy came over to hug me before they left.

"We'll be home early in the morning, ok?" Momma said. I nodded, feeling a little better.

"We love you," they said together. I suddenly felt a little too choked up to answer out loud.

"I'll take you now," Jasper said, holding his hand out to me. Reluctantly, I let go of my parents and took it. Immediately, I felt much more peaceful than I had felt all day. The four of us ran out the door, Jasper and I turning left, and Momma and Daddy going straight. I barely saw home in the distance, however, when I saw a big dark figure speeding toward us.

"You owe me twenty bucks!" Emmett's booming voice shouted at me. Crap. I ran in the house and into my room to get it. When I turned to leave my room, he was already there.

"Pay up, little lady," he grinned, hovering over me. I slapped the bill into his hand, pouting.

"Pleasure doing business with you," he laughed.

"Brother," Jasper said, patting Emmett's large shoulder, "let's give Nessie a, uh, _half-_human minute, shall we?" they chuckled at my pouting lower lip and left.

Once Jasper left the room, however, worry started to creep back in again. I tried to hurry so he could come back and settle me down, but naturally that slowed me down. When I was finally done, he came in to sit on the edge of my bed. I climbed in and snuggled in the sheets. He ever so gently stroked my cheek.

"Still worried?" he asked softly.

"Mm-mmm," I replied. Geez, he was making me tired already. He laughed quietly.

"Just sleep, beautiful girl," he whispered, his voice a soft lull. "Just sleep." His cool fingers stroking my cheek was so soothing. A calm that only Jasper could bring washed over me, and I drifted off to sleep.


	7. Pleading

I woke with a start in the middle of the night. Momma was sitting at the foot of my bed.

"I hoped you wouldn't wake up until it was over," she whispered in the darkness.

"What? It started?!" I looked at the clock. It was almost 3 am.

"We heard them coming about a half an hour ago."

"How many were there?"

"I didn't see them. I switched places with Jasper immediately."

Oh great, now I didn't know how much danger my family was in or how long this was going to last. Just to have something to do, I got up and got dressed. I tried to be thorough and picky about what I wore in order to stretch the time, but I cared so little about my appearance I ended up throwing on some old sweats and stomped back to my room. Momma wrapped me tightly in her arms.

"Everything will be alright, Nessie. We'll make it through," she said. But I heard under her soothing tone she was trying to convince herself just as much as she was trying to convince me. I concentrated on making my breathing steady and even. I counted the seconds that ticked by, knowing that there would be many to pass before I was at peace again.

Not very long after, Momma got a phone call from Daddy. She answered, hoping he was going to tell us it was over. But she was wrong. We heard a frantic sound on the other line, barel7 recognizable as Daddy's voice.

"Bella! We need you to come now! Please! Just come, I beg of you. Please!!" The line went dead. Momma looked at me, utterly terrified. I touched her cheek and told her she had to go. She knelt by my bed and grabbed me by the shoulders so she could look me in the eyes.

"Renesmee, you must promise me you will stay here. No matter how difficult it is waiting, promise me you will not leave this house!"

"I promise, Momma"

She looked as if she was about to cry. She hugged me tightly for one second and sped out the door. I barely saw her retreating figure when I looked out my window. I bowed my head and let my tears and hysterics have me.

Daddy's frightened voice could only mean one thing: there were too many for my family to handle. My family was in too much danger. How many would we lose? Who of my family would I never see again? Would it be Carlisle or Esme, my sweet, loving, compassionate grandparents? Would it be fun, easygoing Emmett? Or maybe beautiful, frilly Rosalie or Alice? Or possibly kind, peaceful Jasper?

Or Daddy…

Or Momma… or…

Jacob?

A dark hole seemed to burn its way through the center of my chest. _Oh, please, _I thought, _please let him be safe. Please!_

A loud wolf's howl pierced through the night's silence.

_No! Please, no! _That wasn't Seth or Leah. No, it couldn't be them. I recognized his voice, even when he was in wolf form. _Jacob!_ He was in pain. I had to do something, I just had to. But no, I promised Momma I would stay here. His haunting yell rang through the air again, only this time it seemed weaker, like he was being drained of strength. Without consciously telling them to, my feet were rushing me out the door toward him.

_Oh, Momma, forgive me. Please forgive me._


	8. Rescue

I ran toward the sound as fast as my legs would carry me. Each new howl of pain was like a fresh stab piercing all the way through my chest. I tried unsuccessfully not to think about what was happening to him. What if I was too late? How badly was he hurt?

I knew I was getting close once his yelps got louder. Sure enough, a moment later I could just see the reddish-brown fur of his coat. It took all of my self-control not to just run straight to him, but I forced myself to keep my head. I crept closer. There were two vampires on either side of Jacob, facing away from me. He was standing, but not straight. His front left leg looked mangled and bloody, and there were several gashes all over his body. His face was twisted with pain and fear. This made the vampires smile wickedly.

"Can we bite now?" one said franticly to the other.

"No, not yet." the other said. He was clearly the leader. "We must wait until he doesn't have any fight left. The best satisfaction comes when he is writhing on the ground, howling for death." He flashed a blood-thirsty grin. The other laughed maniacally, the sound of which made my insides turn to ice.

This had to be stopped. But how? I could hardly jump in and beat them by myself. I looked around. If I wanted to defeat them, I would have to eventually burn them. Praying that the vampires were too focused to notice, I crept closer and started to prepare a decent fire pit. My family had shown me plenty of times how to make a fire, I just hoped I could make one quickly enough. I almost had a small flame started when Jacob let out another howl.

_Hurry, Renesmee! _I shouted to myself. _Hurry up, stupid! _The fire was getting a little bigger by now. Careful not to smother it, I fed the bright yellow flames more wood. The fire grew larger and larger. It was then that Jacob finally noticed me there. He gave a panicked bark which caught the vampire's attention. They turned to look at me incredulously.

"A human?" one wondered loudly.

I smiled, feigning bravery. "Not exactly," I said, walking directly in front of the fire.

The leader jerked his head in my direction, "Finish her off." Jacob barked and yelped, more horrified and pained than ever. The follower smiled and shot toward me. When he was close enough, I jumped to the side. Much to my dismay, the follower stopped himself just before he could fall straight into the fire. He turned to me, his lips curled in a sneer.

"You thought you could fool me, did you, little girl?" he spat at me. He was right; my feeble plan had failed easily. He began to creep toward me again. _Did there happen to be a plan B, Renesmee?_ I turned and ran up the nearest tree, where he followed me. I was barely on the first branch when I found myself cornered. The smoke from the fire below billowed up behind him, making him appear more sinister than ever before. Desperate for some kind of defensive weapon, I reached above me and tried to rip off the nearest branch. The vampire laughed at me maliciously.

"You don't have a chance!" he cackled. Oh, but there had to be. I gripped the branch above me with both hands and tugged with all of my strength. The branch broke off and fell down but missed him by mere inches. But the force of it cracked the center of the branch we were standing on. _Plan B! _I smiled at myself. I stepped forward and stomped on his half of the broken branch until it broke as well. I picked up the other broken branch and shoved it into him so that he fell backward-- exactly in the path of the fire. Once he fell into the center of the fire, both of the tree branches fell on top of him and trapped him inside, so that he could only scream and burn until he was nothing but ash.

I jumped out of the tree, anxious to see if Jacob was alright. My heart sank when I saw he was limping worse than ever, and there was yet another gash on his shoulder. But my spirits raised a little when I saw that the leader's left arm was torn off at the elbow, and a chunk was missing from his back. Jacob cast another chunk of what appeared to be a piece of his foot towards the fire.

"That's it, wolf!" the leader snarled, "I'm not playing any more games!" he launched himself on top of Jacob, his teeth bearing. He was eyeing Jacob's neck…

"No!" I screamed. I leapt onto the vampire's back. I seized a clump of his hair and pulled his head sharply back. The surprise caused him to lose his grip and fall back toward the ground. Yet I was still beneath him when he fell. I hadn't slammed into the forest floor one fraction of a second before his rock solid body smashed into me with a sound as loud as a thunderclap. All of the air flew out of my lungs; I couldn't breathe. Jacob picked him up by the head with his teeth and launched him into a tree, which cracked and fell. Jacob ran as fast as his three good legs could carry him to the fallen leader and jumped on him. It was all over then. Jacob ripped him apart limb by limb, flinging each piece into the fire with his teeth.

After every piece was burned, Jacob looked as though he would fall over from exhaustion. He slowly limped behind a clump of trees to transform. When he emerged, tears flooded his eyes.

"Nessie!" he choked, limping toward me. I ran quickly to him. He fell to his knees and wrapped his good arm around me. I threw my arms around him with tears streaming down my face as well.

"Nessie, don't you ever do that to me again!" he sobbed. I was crying and choking too much to reply out loud. I just clutched him close to me, trying to appreciate that he was alright and safe with me. But even as I held him he seemed to het heavier. I pulled back a little. He appeared to be too exhausted to even kneel. As carefully as I could, I laid him down on the forest floor. He had to be in so much pain. His injuries looked much more pronounced when he was in human form. Most of his gashes had mostly healed, but the one on his shoulder still looked pretty bad. The worst part was his broken arm. Since it had started healing already, it had a kind of gruesome bump between his wrist and his elbow. I took off my sweatshirt to wrap around his arm so it could at least be protected until Carlisle could fix it. But he winced when I tried to touch his arm. A new tear fell off my cheek. I wished I could take the pain away from him. I'd rather have all of my bones broken than see him hurting this much.

"I'm sorry, Jacob," I wept softly.

His warm eyes looked up at me. "For what? The pain, or for putting yourself in danger?" his voice cracked on the last word. "Anything could have happened to you. What was I supposed to do if you got hurt? Do you expect me to live without you?"

"But I couldn't leave you alone. I couldn't. When I heard you howling like that… I…I had to… I had to do something… I…"

He smiled weakly, "Are you in love with me or something?"

I had to smile back, "Yes, I am."

He gently stroked my cheek, "I'm in love with you too."

That simple little sentence felt so healing. So purifying. The fear and hurt that overwhelmed me just moments ago drifted away, replaced with elation. I bent my head towards his and kissed him tenderly on the lips.

When I pulled back a moment later, some of the pain seemed to have left his face. In fact, his smile had even grown a little wider. I would have been contented to just grab onto him and hold him forever.

Running footsteps interrupted our moment of peace. Momma and Daddy came running toward us, their faces full of shock.

"Nessie! Jacob!" Momma exclaimed, kneeling down next to me and pulling me into a bone-crushing embrace.

"Momma," I wept, "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. Please forgive me, Momma, I'm so sorry." Momma took a minute of broken, tearless sobs before she replied.

"Baby," she said, "it's more important to me that you've learned selflessness than to sit quietly on the sidelines."

I looked at her in confusion, "You're not mad?"

"Well, I didn't say that," she smiled wryly.

Daddy came to kneel beside me. "Are you hurt at all, Nessie? Do you have any breaks or burns or anything?"

"No, Daddy, I'm ok."

"Are you sure?" he wiped the hair out of my face to examine me a little closer.

"Yes, Daddy, I'm sure." I assured him. A smile of relief lit his face. He turned back to Jacob.

"I wish you could say the same thing," he said sadly. "What's broken?"

"My arm," Jacob said hoarsely, "and they cracked my rib too."

"We can reset that right away." Daddy grabbed my discarded sweatshirt, wrapped it around the broken arm and tied it around Jacob's neck so it could serve as a sling.

"Whoop-dee-doo," Jacob said with as much sarcasm as he could muster.

"Hey, you're lucky you got away with just one major injury. Taking on two vampires…"

"Yup, I'm awesome like that."

I saw the rest of the family starting to appear in the distance. Carlisle… Emmett… Alice… Jasper… Esme and finally Rosalie. All of the guys carefully lifted Jacob and started to carry him away. My heart started to sink when I saw him leaving again, but then I remembered Daddy just barely said they were getting his arm fixed. _Geez, Renesmee._ I sighed, but then turned back to Momma.

"What happened, Momma? What happened at the fight?"

"Well, at first, it looked like they only had a few vampires with them. Things were going smoothly when Jacob saw the leader run off. He got suspicious and followed him, but then another of the stronger ones pursued him. As if that didn't worry us enough, more of them showed up and outnumbered us. That's when your father called."

I looked around at my aunts and grandmother. Their clothes were a little torn, and they looked a little battered, but otherwise they looked unscathed.

"But everything turned out okay, right?" her story didn't seem to fit with the outcome.

Momma smiled. "It turned out I showed up just in time to even out the playing field."

"Was anyone else hurt?"

"Seth and Leah have a few minor injuries, but they're fine. And, well…" Momma reached behind her shoulder and touched a rip in her clothes. I looked around her to see where she was touching. Beneath the rip was a crescent shaped scar…

"Oh, Momma," I gasped, touching her back lightly. Her beautiful body was scarred forever. A small tear brimmed my eye.

"It's not a big deal," she said, tried to shake it off.

"Not a big deal," Alice pouted, "You'll never be able to wear strapless dresses again!" she folded her arms in disapproval. Despite the situation, I giggled a little. She was seriously disappointed. Momma smiled.

"Yes, Alice, that is the worst part of all." We chuckled at Alice's martyred expression.

"Come on," Momma said to me, "let's go back home and get you cleaned up."

I touched her face and asked why I couldn't be with Jacob.

"We need to give Carlisle a chance to fix his bones first. Besides, you're a royal mess."

I looked down at myself. I was covered in dirt and soot, and only had my undershirt on since my sweatshirt was now ruined. I tried to tell her that I couldn't care less, but she was smarter than that.

"You've lived your entire life with these two models," she indicated with a nod of her head to Alice and Rosalie behind me, "and you're trying to tell me that tattered, dirty clothes don't make you crazy?"

I worked to keep my face composed, but she saw right through me.

"I promise once you're clean and presentable, you can go and see Jacob," she bribed. I sighed, defeated, and followed her home.


	9. Home

"Nessie?" I heard Momma's voice say dimly, "Baby, wake up." She shook me gently by the shoulder until my eyes opened. Everything was a bit foggy at first. I tried to focus in on Momma's smiling face.

"It's time to go," she said softly.

I lifted my head, "Wha?"

"Let's go home," she said patiently.

"Nuh," I mumbled when I laid my head back down.

"Nessie, let's get you in your own bed where you'll be more comfortable," Daddy interceded.

I lifted my head again and looked around me. I was in the living room, sitting next to the couch where Jacob and I had fallen asleep a couple of hours before. I looked at Jacob, who let out a huge snore. I smiled and lay back down on his shoulder.

"Uh-uh," I said, closing my eyes again.

"How can you even sleep with all of that noise?" Momma asked.

I pondered that for a moment. I never thought of his snoring as distracting or annoying. On the contrary, I found it quite lulling. The rhythmic sound of it almost put me to sleep better than absolute silence.

"Renesmee," Daddy said a little more firmly, "we really need to go home now."

"Ok, bye" I said sleepily. I heard them both give exasperated sighs before I drifted off again.

I finally woke up to a sudden silence in the room. When I lifted my head, I realized it was because Jacob was no longer snoring.

"Good morning, Nessie," he smiled, causing my heart to skip a beat.

"I think afternoon is more like it," I said, looking at the clock. "Momma and Daddy will probably want me home now."

"I'll take you then," he said, sitting up. His bones looked as good as new by now. There weren't any scars or bruises or anything.

"I'm glad you're looking better," I told him.

"Ah, a couple of broken bones are no big deal." He said cheerfully as he lifted me onto my feet.

"Brag much, Jake?" I laughed when we walked out the door.

"Well, sort of. I'm bragging for you too."

"Me?"

"Yeah, you helped me get better," he said with sincerity.

"How? I didn't even do anything."

"Yes you did. You stayed by my side all morning. Having you there with me practically took the pain away."

"I did?" I glowed, "Really?"

"Of course you did."

I didn't know what to say. I had felt so useless just sitting and not being able to do anything while Daddy and Carlisle reset his bones. I was so relieved that I was able to help him after all.

We were so contented just talking to each other that we walked slowly, hand in hand, all the way home in order to prolong the time we had together. I almost didn't want to get home at all, but just talk with Jacob all day. I hesitated in front of the house once we got there.

"Jake?"

"Yes?"

I looked up at the face I loved so much, which looked straight back at me.

"How am I supposed to kiss you good-bye if you're so tall?"

He laughed and scooped me up into his arms, and then kissed me until I couldn't breathe.

"Like this," he smiled before his lips met mine again.


	10. Epilogue

**Author's note: Thank you for everyone who read and reviewed my story. It made my day every time I read a positive review. Thank you especially to AngelKitten23 for forcing me to upload my story in the first place. **

**Cheers!**

One Year Later

"Are you done yet?" I asked Alice for the millionth time.

"Nessie, if you expect to be an immortal without exploding, you're going to have to learn some patience."

I huffed without the slightest trace of this so-called-patience. She was supposed to be operating at vampiric speeds to get me finished, wasn't she?

"Okay… done!" she got up in front of me and beamed. "Oh, Nessie, you're my masterpiece! C'mon!" she led me to her huge mirror so I could see myself.

"Alice," I breathed when I saw my reflection. "Oh, Alice, it's perfect!" I examined myself in the incredible white dress from every direction. It wasn't particularly frilly, but that made me like it all the better.

"The skirt is a lot like Bella's was, but I thought you would like the bodice to be more modern," she told me.

"You were right. Oh, I can't believe how incredible it is!"

"Cry all you want, I made sure to put on water-proof mascara," she smiled at me. I turned and threw my arms around her. She laughed and hugged me too.

"Alright," she said after a moment, "let's finish up, it's almost time."

Momma walked in then, but stopped short when she saw me. Her eyes almost popped out of their sockets and her mouth dropped wide open. I blushed red.

"What do you think, Momma?" I asked in a small voice. She pouted.

"I didn't look that heartbreakingly beautiful," she whined to Alice. My grin flared up again.

"Oh, hush, Bella. I made you look amazing."

"Ah, well," she controlled her expression, "I brought you the flowers."

She handed me a bouquet of roses, and put a single red rose behind my ear. If she were human, I imagine a small tear would brim her eye.

"Renesmee," she whispered, "my baby." But she didn't say any more. She appeared to be lost for words. Her expression made me a little sad.

"Uh, Bella, this is supposed to be a happy occasion, remember?" Alice teased.

"Oh, shut-up," Momma said under her breath. But her hand dropped from my face. "I guess I'd better get downstairs." She kissed me on the cheek and glided gracefully out of the room.

"I'm going to get dressed. I'll be back in two minutes, okay?" Alice told me. I nodded and she skipped out of the room after Momma.

I looked at myself in the mirror again. This was the day I had been dreaming about for the past year. I was so excited I thought I might explode any moment. My heart was throbbing so loud it was embarrassing. Ugh, had it been two minutes yet? I wanted it to start already. Although, I still had Momma's melancholy expression fresh in my mind. A piece of me wanted to stay together the way our family always been. But it wasn't like I was never going to see her again. We would always be family. Now was the time for me to move on, to take the next step in my life. I was ready. I knew for absolute certain that I was ready for this next step.

"Nessie?" Daddy's voice sounded from outside the door. "It's time."

My smile turned celestial. "Okay." I whispered. I lifted the skirt of my dress a little so I could walk forward. When I approached him, he took my hand and kissed it.

"You're as beautiful as you mother," he smiled at me.

"She said I was prettier," I said, teasing him.

"That's her opinion," he rolled his eyes. We locked our arms together and walked slowly downstairs. I could already hear Rosalie's piano playing turn into Wagner's traditional march. I had to glance down at myself to make sure I hadn't exploded. Nope, still intact.

I saw him once we got downstairs. His vast body was dressed in a black tuxedo. His dark hair was uncharacteristically neat. His dark brown eyes opened wide when they turned to gaze at me. When his beautiful bright eyes locked into mine, a dazzling smile lit his face. A smile to match the warmth and light of mid-day sun.

Jacob. My Jacob.

I hardly paid attention to the ceremony. All I cared about was that we both said "I do" and got to kiss at the end. The reception was a little more fun, since I got to say hello to some old friends I felt like I hadn't seen in ages: Grampa, the Clearwaters, some of Jacob's old pack. I was particularly excited to see everyone from Denali, and Zafrinia from the Amazon coven was even kind enough to come and congratulate me.

But if I was being honest with myself, more than anything I just wanted to be alone with Jacob. So when Alice finally pushed me inside so I could change out of my dress, I breathed a sigh of relief. I changed at top speed so I could rush downstairs, out the door and into Daddy's Aston Martin with Jacob. I rolled my window down so I could shout good-bye to everyone one last time. My eyes lingered particularly on Momma. Of everyone in my family, no matter what period of time, I hated leaving her most.

"I love you, Momma!" I shouted out the window.

"I love you, baby!" she shouted, looking once again like she was about to cry.

I had to sit down before I could start crying too. Like Alice had said, this was supposed to be a happy occasion. Luckily, Jacob was the perfect antidote for any sad feeling I ever had. He grinned foolishly at the sound the car made when he revved the engine.

"It's like the purr of a panther," he whispered dramatically. I giggled as he put the car in drive and sped off.

"Do I get to find out where we're going now?" I asked him when we got to the main road.

"You'll find out soon enough," he told me. "We're not going far."

"Good, because I can't wait any longer."

We had only been on the road a few minutes, however, when Jacob took the road that led to La Push. I looked at him with a confused expression.

"You'll see," he sung mischievously.

He took a turn that seemed to go straight into the woods. The dirt road wove snakelike through the trees in the same way that the road to the big white house did. When he finally stopped the car, I gasped.

Nestled in the woods, matching perfectly with the green and brown of the surrounding trees, was a house. It was like a large cabin, or even a little ski lodge, but the architecture was a little more contemporary.

"A gift from your family," Jacob said.

"It's ours?" I gasped. I couldn't tear my eyes away. "It's beautiful."

Jacob got out of the car and came around to my side to open the door for me. It was difficult to decide what to look at: the house or Jacob. I decided on the latter when he scooped me up into his arms and walked toward the front door. While still cradling me, he carefully opened the door and carried me across the threshold.

The inside was just as warm and welcoming as I expected it to be. The floors were made of a dark, elegant wood, the walls were a light brown. There was a fireplace, but I didn't expect to need it, since I had my own walking, talking furnace still holding me. I smiled up at him slyly.

"So… where's the bedroom?"

He chuckled sinisterly and set me down.

"Race ya!" he shot off up the stairs. I followed him as fast as I could. Once I was up the stairs, he had already opened the door at the end of the hallway. He ran back to me, swung me over his shoulder, and carried me into the room where we would share together a perfect piece of our forever.


End file.
